Curtis Sanford, the 32-year-old journeyman that last played in the NHL in 2009, has stepped in and provided Columbus with its most solid goaltending of the year. He’s 3-1-2 with a 1.38 goals-against average and .947 save percentage.

“He’s not all over the place,” said Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel (in what was either praise for Sanford or condemnation of Mason — you decide!) “He’s compact. He faces the shooter and prepares himself for the next rebound and that next chance. He’s not a guy who expends a ton of energy by flying all over the place.”

Another positive for Sanford is the Jackets seemingly play better in front of him than Mason. Inexplicable, but the numbers confirm — Columbus earned its only winning-streak of the year with Sanford in goal and secured at least a point in all but one of his games played.

So, consider the situation. Mason’s been very bad, Sanford’s been very good. Arniel’s job has been on the line for weeks, the BJs are desperate for wins and throughout the league, teams are riding their backups with great success (see: Cory Schneider in Vancouver, Brian Elliott in St. Louis and Josh Harding in Minnesota.)

Depends. If I wanted to win, I would play Sanford. If I wanted Nationwide Arena completely empty of fans, I would put in Mason. The amazing thing here is you honestly DON’T know what they will choose. Columbus has a rich 11 year history of making moronic decisions.

Shuffle things up. Play Sanford and ease Mason on there as a backup playing a game here and there…or not. He was not NHL caliber this season.

muttbolts - Nov 29, 2011 at 6:22 PM

Iam desperate for bjs

cbjfan75 - Nov 29, 2011 at 7:28 PM

Personally, don’t care what they do with him. I would love to see his name on the waiver wire for a “rehab” stint in Chicago, then when proven, moved up to Springfield and so on. Still only a 21 or 22 year old kid who has never played in the minors. Maybe he should, the NHL is no place to try and find your game.
Besides, the team plays better without him in the pipes.